Pistachio Pesto Pasta

Tonight I tried my friend K.C.'s Pistachio Pesto Pasta. I served it with a Caprese Salad (mozzarella, tomato, basil, and onion drizzled with olive oil and salt & pepper). It was yummolicious! Even my kids liked the pasta! Thank you, K.C.! We ate it too fast to take a picture, but here is the recipe:

Pummill’s Pistachio Pesto Pasta

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup crushed pistachios
5 cloves freshly minced garlic (double if you LOVE garlic)
½ cup olive oil
1 cup firmly packed basil leaves (stems removed)
¼ cup firmly packed parsley sprigs (stems removed)
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
1 package farfalle (bowtie) pasta
4 chicken breasts, diced and marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar & garlic salt (I marinated it for 2 hours in the fridge, but I found out later that isn't what K.C. meant. It tasted good, though.)


1. In food processor, add ingredients in order specified above. The food processor will take care of all the mincing, chopping, grating and crushing. Blend to form a thick paste.

2. While pesto is blending, put pasta on to boil. Boil pasta until al dente.

3. While pasta is boiling, sauté chicken in marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic salt.

4. When pasta and chicken are ready, combine the two. Then, mix in ½ cup pesto. Stir and serve.

5. Freeze remaining ½ cup pesto in zip loc bag. Then, for your next meal, simply thaw pesto, cook pasta and sautee chicken.

Can I just add that cooking totally wears me out? I know some people love to cook. I'm not one of them. I just love good food. I'd gladly (and possibly unashamedly) have a cook. It just seems like a lot of work to spend an hour+ cooking, for my kids to cry about it, Scott to eat it in 7 seconds (and always enjoy it and compliment it), and then have an hour's worth of cleaning to do afterwards. Then I'm worthless and ready for bed at 8:00. It just doesn't seem worth it. No wonder I love to eat out. Hmmm. That pesto and caprese salad were really yummy, though. Maybe, it was worth it...

(Adding this 15 minutes later...) I'm sorry if that sounded negative. I'm obviously tired. On a bright note, next time I'll already have the pesto done since the other half is already in the freezer. :)

Quote of the Day (On Allergies)

Titus walked into my room this morning and proclaimed, "Mom, I'm having a heart attack of sneeezing!"

Interview With Titus and Audra

Several of my friends on Facebook did this interview with their kids and I was curious how Titus and Audra would respond. Their answers were pretty amusing:

1) What is something mom always says to you?
Audra: "I love you very much."
Titus: "Almost always you say, 'I love you.'"

2) What makes mom happy?
Audra: "Preferring other people, obeying Mommy, and obeying God."
Titus: "When we clean our room for you and when we surprise you."

3) What makes your mom sad?
Audra: "When we say bad things."
Titus: "When you slip and fall on the wet, soapy water that Audra spilled. Remember that?"
"When we don't be nice to each other."

4) How does your mom make you laugh?
Audra: "Tickle me."
Titus: "Tickle me. I'm very ticklish."

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Audra: "I don't know....Remember, you liked to play with your friend, Natalie. You guys liked to dance and play dress up."
Titus: "I don't know. You were very good as a child." (Apparently he didn't ask Richard or Rhea Lana their opinion on this one.)

6. How old is your mom?
Audra: "3 1/2 years old"
Titus: "21"

7.How tall is your mom?
Audra: "11 years old"
Titus: "Probably about to here!" (He said as he jumped and raised his hand as high as he could.)

8.What is your moms favorite thing to do?
Audra: "You like to...well, let's see here...go to the mall, and you like to love me and hug me."
Titus: "Be with me."

9. What does your mom do when you are not around?
Audra: "You like to stay where you are."
Titus: "Probably just go somewhere else."

10.If your mom becomes famous what will it be for?
Audra: "I don't know what famous means."
Titus: "Probably for taking care of your kids very well."

11. What is your mom really good at?
Audra: "You are good at getting exercise, and jumping on the trampoline, playing with me. You're good at fixing things."
Titus: "Cleaning the house." (Awesome. Just what I always wanted to be good at.)

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Audra: "Well, you're not very good at riding my bicycle." (True.)
Titus: "Playing video games because you've never played them before." (Also true.)

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Audra: "I don't know."
Titus: "Umm...working? Sometimes you work at FAC." (FAC is Fayetteville Athletic Club. I think he means "working out.") :)

14. What is your moms favorite food?
Audra: "You like salad. When you were a little girl you liked pizza, just like me."
Titus: "I'm going to guess pizza or teriyaki chicken. It has a really good taste. I'm glad they made that in Japan. Maybe, we should move to Japan. It's very far away, but we could go in an airplane."

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Audra: "Well, you always serve me."
Titus: "When you do a really good job...like when you ride go-carts at Locomotion." (???)

16. If your mom was a cartoon character, who would she be?
Audra: "Mrs. Flintstone"
Titus: "Dora because she helps every animal in the forest."

17.What do you and your mom do together?
Audra: "Well, we always play with each other."
Titus: "Sometimes we ride go-carts together or read together." (I think he is talking about the go-cart I just bought for him at the sale. We've been taking walks around the neighborhood and they take turns riding the go-cart.)

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Audra: "We both have curly hair, Silly!" "We always love and kiss each other."
Titus: "We both like peperoni pizza." "Do you like to do crab races?" ("yes") "Then we both like to do crab races. We both like to go hiking."

19. How are you and your Mom different?
Audra: "Well, I don't spank you, but you spank me."
Titus: "You fall asleep quicker than I do."

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Audra: "You always tell me."
Titus: "Because you hug me and kiss and you say, "I love you" to me.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Audra: "Cause yesterday you kissed Daddy and I saw you. Remember?"
Titus: "That he likes to play with me."

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Audra: "Marketplace Grill and probably the park"
Titus: "The mall. In the summer you like to go to the pool."

Pinch Me, Please!

I just made reservation for Scott and I to go to the Turks and Caicos Islands to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! Can someone, please, come pinch me?!?! We have never gone on a trip without our kids (and Titus is 6 years old) and we've definitely never traveled someplace like this! I am beyond excited!!! Here are some pictures of the Turks and Caicos Islands: http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com/

Spring Parade of Parks Tour

Spring is here! I am a sunshine and warm weather person, so I am so incredibly thankful for the weather today. It is amazing how quickly it changes my entire disposition and outlook on life in general! Scott is on a 7-day business trip to Indianapolis and Louisville, so I decided to fill our days with trips to the park!

MONDAY:

I fixed the kids hot cereal with bananas and blueberries for breakfast (a staple around here). Audra spontaneously went and got her doll's table for them to eat breakfast on and the kids all thought that was hilarious. I couldn't resist taking a picture of them cuddled around her little table enjoying breakfast together in a new way.

It's Monday, so we had homeschool to finish in the morning before we could go to the park. Here is a picture of Titus reading his guided reading book to Audra:
Justus didn't want to be left out, so he worked on his own project while Titus wrote his summary of "The Class Play With Mrs. Vanilla" and Audra drew her picture:

I laid these puzzles out along the kitchen floor to try to keep Justus occupied while Titus worked on his Math. He loves puzzles and I was surprised how quickly he was able to finish all four of them in a row. Hmmm. I need some new suggestions for things that will keep him entertained longer.

After school, lunch, and Justus' nap time we headed out to Johnson Park to enjoy the sunshine...

The kids all raced out of the car, into the park, and played for over 2 hours! Here are all three kids coming down the slide. Notice that Justus has no fear!

Who knew tether ball was so fun?!?! This kept Titus and Audra laughing for 20 minutes. I haven't seen tether ball (except at the end of Napoleon Dynamite) in 25 years...and I didn't think it was that interesting back then. Titus and Audra made me think I must have really missed out on something.
Woo hoo! Titus' favorite new swing trick!

Audra trying it out, too. Justus was content to sit in his swing and be pushed...for an hour! I honestly loved every minute of it, though. Being at a sunshiny park with laughing kids is one of the happiest places on Earth for me. Cheeseball, but true.
Okay, so Titus and Audra were climbing all over this playground equipment. My monkey...I mean baby...watched them climb this slide once and decided he would do it, too. Only he got stuck at this point. "Hep me, Momma! I tuck," he called. I ran to save him...but had to take a picture first! :)

TUESDAY:

After we picked Titus up from school at Providence, we headed to Rotary Park at Tyson Sports Complex. Another sunny day; another afternoon at the park!








Have I mentioned that this little boy has no fear? That he can climb anything? And that he just turned two in December?




WEDNESDAY:

My parents had planned to drive up for "Grandparents Are Grand Day" at Providence tomorrow. When they found out that Scott was out of town all week, they decided to come early and help me out. Hooray for awesome parents! I'm learning that parenting never ends.
Titus reading his guided reading book to Audra during homeschool. After homeschool was over, we went to Momma Z's for lunch (yummmmmy!) and then headed to the Tontitown Park to play. It is one of my favorite parks because it is large, it has sun & shade, and it has a large variety of old & new equipment to play on.
Gramps helping my determined little climber.

My other adventurous one going down the slide head first. She also loves to swing as high as she possibly can. She'll say over and over, "Higher Mommy, higher! Up to the clouds!"
Titus and me on the see-saw!
Gramps pushing all three on the swings! (There's Mimi at the table in the background enjoying a few minutes of rest.)

THURSDAY:

"Grandparents are Grand Day" at Providence. I heard someone was there taking pictures of the kids with their grandparents. I hope I'll get a copy. Titus was so proud to show Mimi and Gramps his school, his classroom, and introduce them to his friends!

FRIDAY:

Gramps spoiled us and made homemade biscuits, sausage, bacon, and eggs for breakfast every morning. All three kids loved helping him cut out the biscuits! Dad made breakfasts like this every morning when I was growing up...except when he made banana chocolate chip milkshakes for breakfast! (Doesn't that remind you of that Bill Cosby skit when he fed his kids chocolate cake for breakfast?) I guess he justified it because it had milk and bananas in it? :)

We took Titus to soccer practice, then headed out to the park one more time...

SATURDAY:

Mom and I spent the entire day doing cleaning projects around the house, so I don't have any pictures of that. My sweet Dad offered to take all three kids to Fun City and was gone for three hours. What a brave man! My sweet mother did laundry all four days to help me get caught up. I'm so thankful for their help this week and for the beautiful weather that allowed us to have so much fun! Thank you, Mimi and Gramps!

Scott gets home tomorrow. Yeah!

"OJR"

I've started working on phonics with Audra and today she was piddling with the magnetic letters on the fridge while I was making dinner (Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup...mmmmm). She walked over to me, put her hands on her hips, and proclaimed, "Mommy, Audra doesn't start with A. Audra starts with O."

Then she chanted back to me, "O says 'o' like Odra!"

Then she corrected me, "A says 'a' like apple."

Giggling and impressed by her logic, I tried to explain that Au says "o" like Audra.

She didn't buy it. Then she went over to the refrigerator and put her logic puzzle together: "OJR."

"Mommy, look."

"OJR spells Audra," she explained and sounded out for me, "Not A-U-D-R-A!"

It's finally clicking! She's getting it...but if we have another baby, please remind me to give him/her a name that is spelled phonetically.

Dream Interpretation?

I just got this email from a high school friend...

I meant to write you earlier. I had the funniest dream about you Tuesday night. Of course, dreams don't translate too well when trying to tell them, but here is the gist of it:You were in charge of some Olympic after party (your sorority was heading it) and for some reason Daniel and I went with you. Once we got to your house you insisted on driving my car (which is a Honda CR-V) and we made Daniel ride in the very back. You drove like a maniac the entire way, running over stumps (oh yeah, there was no real paved road, just a dirt road up the mountain) and going about 80 mph. It was pretty much a straight incline up the mountain to the tent where the celebration was set up. At one point all I could see was the sky above me and trees on either side. When we got there your kids were there and a bunch of people I haven’t seen in ages, Curtis Gregg, Amy Martin, Harun Kazmi, Kyle Rogers, Ann Redfern and Stephanie Hill to name a few (I guess Facebook sticks with me). Anyway, you ran off and left me watching Titus, who insisted on carrying around a toilet seat to sit on.

Well, that sums it up I guess. I just remember you were talking ninety to nothing and driving like a loon. I woke up laughing actually.


LOL! Ummm...does anyone have an interpretation?

Revelation

I received an unexpected email from a friend this morning asking if I would be a prayer cover for her. There is something new, exciting, and yet scary that God has asked her to do. This was my equally unexpected (to me) reply:

I feel privileged that God would choose me.

I began praying this morning, "Lord, give _____ favor."

Then the immediate reaction: "No, that's not right. The girl couldn't have more gifting...What is it, Lord?"

Scrub some oatmeal. Wipe a nose. Hush an unkind word.

"God, keep giving her things that are FRESH...that draw others into a FRESH REVELATION of you...deeper intimacy...longing for more...unexpected...humor...freedom..."

Then I realized how hungry I am for that. I was IMing (or whatever you call it) Kara Laney on Facebook last night and through our conversation realized how sad I've been that lately I've settled into a blah, distant, unaffected place with God. In all my church-going, bible study-leading, home school teaching busyness I didn't even realize it. I felt distant, like a spectator. I went to bed grieving. Like you grieve when you watch your first love with his new girlfriend. Unexpected tears pierced my eyelashes and I felt defeated--too busy to fight to win him back. Resenting the busyness, but defeated in the necessity of it.

I know it's not the end. I've yet to fight. And I'm a fighter.

Thanksgiving 2008-Day1

Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. I love the fact that the meaning hasn't been lost in an over-commercialized rush, like Christmas. (I think I've actually begun to relish the fact that most stores skip over Thanksgiving all together.) I love the fact that we slow down, appreciate God's goodness in our lives, spend a weekend at my parents' house laughing with family, playing games, and eating GREAT food. What could be better than that?

We drove down to my parents' house on Wednesday night so we could wake up in their house on Thanksgiving day. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins all morning. Titus couldn't wait for Ryan to arrive so he could "pound" him! (Picture his 14-year-old cousin picking him up over his shoulder and throwing him on the couch...then pretending to do WWF wrestling moves on him.) I wonder if he'll ever outgrow that? :) I doubt it.

Erin, Justus, and Sheridan on Mimi's swing.
Richard (my brother) and I enjoying Mom's homemade soup for lunch. We are 7 years apart in age, but I think I look like the big-haired, make-uped version of him. Do you think we look alike? He has curly hair and there are some junior high pictures floating around to prove it!
Playing Apples To Apples.
Richard & Jennifer's family.
Sheridan, Erin, and Audra waiting on the front steps for the Riners to arrive.
Mimi & Gramps--We all love you so much, Mom and Dad. Thank you for your commitment to each other and to us all these years.
The whole family.

My favorite photo! This is Ben's sorority girl pose...which is a perfect representation of his personality and hilarious sense of humor. Later at dinner, we announced that after dinner we were going to have time for everyone to share what they were the most thankful for this year. Ben immediately raised his hand and announced, "I call 'Jesus.'" The room erupted and I giggled about that for three days. He has such quick wit.
Mimi and Gramps with all the grandkids.
My other favorite! Dad putting the finishing touch on his mashed potatoes.
The Feast! This picture really doesn't do it justice. The food was awesome. We had Smoked Ham, Lemon Pepper Turkey, Cornbread Dressing, Gramps' Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Asian Slaw Salad, Veggie & Avocado Salad, Hashbrown Casserole, Bread, Sweet Potato Casserole, and then two tables full of desserts! My brother actually made a chocolate pecan pie that was AWESOME! (He was inspired when he saw Emeril on Good Morning America.) Mother, what was the name of that heavenly dessert that you made? Mmmm.

After dinner we had a sweet family time of reflecting on God's goodness in our lives this past year. I loved having time to hear every one's heart and was especially touched by the things that my teenage nieces and nephews shared. Ben shared that he had a "God experience" this summer at camp that really challenged him in new ways. He then ran for VP of Student Council this Fall and shared his faith in God in his video-taped speech. In it he asked Christians in the Student Body to be bold and take a stand (literally stand up) for Christ. His principal made him edit much of his speech, but he was still able to deliver the point of his message. The word spread throughout the student body and many students stood up throughout his speech. That is the thing that courageous leaders are made of. I admire his boldness tremendously.

My other nephew, Ryan, plays quarterback for his junior high football team. The boy loves sports and LOVES football. They have football practice every morning before school and during first period. This Fall, his church youth group planned to meet before school one Monday morning for the national "See You At The Pole" to pray. His football couch announced that, just like any other practice, if players skipped practice to go to "See You At The Pole" they would not be allowed to play in Friday night's game. (The coach thought they would use it as an excuse to skip practice.) This was a tremendously difficult decision for Ryan. He knew it was important to take a stand for his faith, but he didn't want to be benched for the game. He went to talk to the coach. In the end, the coach respected Ryan's convictions so much that he allowed the entire team to go and went down there with them.

I am so thankful for the example that my brother and sister have been to me in the way that they have raised their children...and I am enormously thankful that these are the cousins that my children have to play with, laugh with, watch, and admire. Thank you.

The adults and big kids finished the evening off by playing Apples to Apples late into the night. I'm so thankful to have such a fun family that enjoys being togehter!

To Be Continued...

A Poem About Providence

A 5th grader at Titus' school wrote this poem...


The School For You

There is a school that is so cool
And the teachers are so so sweet
All the little girls and boys
Only go twice a week

The school is patriotic
Just like me and you
And like the flag of our nation
Our uniforms are red, white, and blue

It will prepare you for college
It will prepare you for life
It will teach you about Jesus
And His beautiful sacrifice

I love this school called Providence
I think you'll love it too
If you love to learn about Jesus
Providence is the school for you.

-Taylor Cassar